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Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez greets inmates at the Men's Central Jail during a Christmas Day visit, during which he toured the halls holding the most dangerous prisoners, handed out religious materials and celebrated Mass before inmates and Sheriff Lee Baca.

As their mother, Jina, takes pictures, Eden Inn screams as she and brother Nathan, all of Redondo Beach, ride their sled down a sand dune at the Hermosa Beach Pier, where the temperature was in the 80s on Christmas afternoon.

Members of the Avon Vale Hunt make their way to the village of Laycock for the traditional Boxing Day meet in Wiltshire, England. The meet took place as an Ipsos Mori poll conducted on behalf of the League Against Cruel Sports and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was released that found that eight out of 10 people believe fox hunting with dogs should remain illegal.

Civilians leave the "Combattant" district close to the airport in Bangui, capital of the strife-torn Central African Republic. Heavy arms fire triggered panic in Bangui, prompting a French force to deploy tanks near the airport, where tens of thousands of residents are seeking refuge from deadly sectarian violence.

A civilian holds spent 14.5-millimeter cartridges, made for a heavy machine gun, reportedly fired by Chadian soldiers in the Gobongo district in Bangui, the Central African Republic's capital. Five Chadian soldiers, part of the African Union's peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic, were killed and French troops were out in force a day after heavy gunfire sowed panic in the city.

An woman in Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra cries while praying during ceremonies marking the ninth anniversary of the Asian tsunami disaster that occurred on Dec. 26, 2004. About a thousand people held a mass prayer to commemorate powerful earthquakes that caused Asian tsunamis. Indonesia was hit hard by the quake and tsunamis, with a total of 230,261 people listed as dead or missing, according to government.

A young refugee holds an infant as she stands near her home on the outskirts of Herat, Afghanistan. Economic development is considered a vital weapon to stop the country from sinking back into civil war and to stem Islamist extremism after 100,000 international combat troops pull out next year.

Visitors walk through an arched gate sculpted from ice at the 40th Harbin Ice Lantern Festival at Zhaolin Park in Harbin, China. More than 2,000 ice sculptures are on display at the festival, which continues through February.

Pictures in the News | Dec. 26, 2013

Thursday’s Pictures in the News begins at the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles, where Archbishop Jose Gomez greets inmates during a Christmas visit in which he held a Mass, toured the halls containing the most dangerous offenders and handed out religious materials. Staying in the Southland, children ride their sled down a sand dune on Christmas afternoon at the Hermosa Beach Pier, where temperatures reached the low 80s.

London: A mad scramble by bargain-hunters in one of the capital’s biggest department stores, Selfridges, as shoppers flocked to the city center for traditional Boxing Day sales.

Bangui, Central African Republic: Civilians leave the “Combattant” district close to the airport in Bangui, where heavy arms fire triggered panic and prompting a French force to deploy tanks near the airport, where tens of thousands of residents are seeking refuge from deadly sectarian violence.

Harbin, China: Visitors walk under a gate sculpted from ice at Zhaolin Park at the 40th Harbin Ice Lantern Festival, which will last until February 2014.

Add stops in India, Indonesia and Afghanistan to round out the report.